



DISCOURSE 






ON THE 



BY W. H. MACFARLAND, ESQ. 



DELTVERED AT THE REQUEST OF TUE COMMITTEE OP THE CITY OF KICHMOND. 1 



^ 



[Published by request of tho Commiltco.] 



RICHMOND: 

H. E. ELLYSON, PRINTER, MAIN STREET. 

1852. 









COKllESPONDENCE. 



BiCHMOM), JcLT 27, 1852. 
Dear Sir: — On behalf of the Committee, and in compliance with the geueral wL-h, I 
have the honor to request a copy of j-our beautiful oration on the death of Mr. Clay for 
publication. 

Very truly, yours, 



To Wm. II. MACPARLAiJD, Esq. 



JAMES LYONS, aiairman. 



Richmond, Jult 29, 1852. 

DsAR Sir:— I have the houor to place at your disposal, a copy of my remarks on Mr. 
Clay, made at the public request, for which you so obligingly apply. 

The shortness of the interval allowed to prepare the address, and the little of that left 
by business at my disposal, will excuse some of its imperfections. 
I am yours, very truly, &c., 

WM. U. MACFAKLAND. 

James Lross, Esq., ic, ic, ic. 



DISCOURSE. 



It needs no voice to interpret the contrast to its ordinary 
aspect, which our city this day presents. The solemn proces- 
sion, the grave assembly, the touching indications of subdued 
emotion, which meet us on every side, proclaim with sympathetic 
power, above the reach of studied phrase, that a strong and 
cherished affection has been wounded, cast down and broken up. 
The emotion which, as by a single pulsation, has pervaded the 
heart of the entire nation, is witnessed here in the tokens and 
emblems in which a sincere and universal grief may vent its wail- 
ings. It is right that it is so. It would imply a fearful levity, 
ignorance of the true security and glory of a State, a low and 
depraved spirit, if the nation marked not by lamentation the 
death of a statesman, whose example and counsels had put her 
forward in the high career to permanent, solid, expansive suc- 
cess. It is an occasion to draw forth from the citizens of a free 
State, the plaintive vehemence of Israel's King — " my Father, 
my Father ! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof ! " 
And if any one portion of the citizens more than another may 
thus express their lamentation, it is those who were allied to the 
revered dead by his birth, and by having furnished the theatre 
of his youthful training and of his earliest efforts. 

Henry Clay is no more. "After life's fitful fever he sleeps 
well." The coming event had cast its melancholy shadow before 
it, and we were prepared in a measure for the sad announcement. 
But so long had he been prominent in the public mind, and to 
such an extent was he confided in and relied upon, that we do 
not realize the startling truth in all its affecting reality. And 
therein consists the magnitude of the nation's loss. Even now 



did au}' great question arise, of national policy, or of constitu- 
tional law, we would find ourselves clinging to the delusion, that 
the great statesman was at his post. The fearful agitations of 
his time will and must return upon us, changed it may be in out- 
ward form, but fierce and turbulent as those with which he victo- 
riously contended ; and who then shall take his place, and emerge 
from the portentous excitement with a message of glad tidings ! 
True, there survive him those who were his peers — statesman of 
mature wisdom and intrepid patriotism — to whom the country 
may look, as has been its wont, with pride and hope. And then, 
we may rely on the same Divine Providence which hitherto has 
so bountifully blessed our country, to provide for coming trials, 
by raising up men competent to meet them. Yet, so natural was 
it for the illustrious deceased to lead in great emergencies, and 
so cheerfully did others give place to him, that we of this gene- 
ration cannot expect to look upon his like again. 

Henry Clay is no more. The voice so often heard above the 
din of discord and faction, and which discord and faction was 
ever unable to resist or elude, is silenced. The stately form, the 
majestic mein, the composed and resolute air, in whose presence 
modest merit gathered confidence, and venal presumption was 
abashed, live only now in memory. " There has happened to 
him the great event, which finishes the honors and glory of life." 
It came, as with epic unity, to crown the cherished end and ob- 
ject of his being. His triumph over the grave was linked with 
the triumph of his unremitted labors in behalf of the Union, the 
master solicitude and object of his life. As was said on a similar 
occasion, if we had the power, we could not wish to reverse this 
dispensation of Providence. 

It was his rare fortune to possess the homage alike of all 
classes and conditions ; and to impress his opinions on every class 
with the same ready success. The lettered and the unlettered, 
the ambitious and the humble, were alike happy to repose on his 
authority. It was not so much his eloquence, high as was its 
order, which won upon the general admiration, and fixed him im- 
moveably in the general confidence; but his unshrinking tenacity, 



the sternness of his principles, and the ardor with which ho 
asserted them, — too resolute under his convictions of duty, ever 
to consider what might happen to himself. Yes, his ascendency 
over all (^lasses, was a voluntary tribute to the elevation of his 
aims, and the open, earnest, onward manner in whieli he pro- 
ceeded to accomplish them. 

" Stfttcsmiin, yc-L friend to trutli '. of soul sinccn', 
Of action fnitliful, ami in honor clear, 
Who broke no promise, senr'd no private end. 
Who Ksvincd no titlo. and who lost no friuuil." 

The career of Mr. Clay, consistent and in harmony with 
itself, as it was in its aims, and the motives which at all times 
controlled him, exhibited in its steady and upward growth, a 
reality as surprising and beautiful as ever warmed a poet's fancy. 
Here there was contrast, — novel, strong, yet majestic and inspir- 
ing contrast. There was nothing to identify the early with the 
matured man, save only the lineaments and endowments with 
which God had distinguished him. All things else, — his rank, 
fame, influence, were all his own, his by a heaven-descended 
title, being what his own steady and unaided purpose had 
achieved. — These nothing but a prophet's vision could have de- 
tected in the circumstances of his obscure and friendless youth. 
We have from his own lips the eifect of the retrospect upon him- 
self. " When," said he, " I look back on my humble origin, left 
an orphan too young to have been conscious of a father's smiles 
and caresses, with a widowed mother surrounded by a numerous 
offspring, in the midst of pecuniary embarrassments, without for- 
tune, without friends, without patrons, I have reason to be satis- 
fied with my public career." 

It has been truly said, that he was a living tradition, connect- 
ing his own times with the great epoch of our history. Born the 
12th of April, 1777, and reflecting faithfully the spirit of that 
heroic age, he seemed to connect us nearer with it. Though too 
young to appear in the memorable scenes, he was not too young 
to shape his aspirations by the illustrious examples before him. 
It was, indeed, an heroic age, above and beyond comparison, 



8 

heroic, for its actors, and the aims which inspired them. The 
very atmosphere in which men lived, was instinct with the ele- 
ments of a high order of moral being. Superior to Grecian and 
Roman models, and beyond the beau ideal of poetry, were the 
chivalry, and wisdom, and virtue, that shone in the daily lives, 
as in the public acts, of the then living heroes and statesmen. 
There is something ennobling in the thought, that we are con- 
nected with such an age, by having among us those who were in 
contact with it, and lived whilst its heroes yet lived ; and to lose 
one of them, and he one who had fully imbibed and ever retained 
its true spirit, is, as it were, to be driven from the spirit world. 
We feel, at least it becomes us to feel, that we enter on the 
future, deprived of a presence it was a privilege to repair to, 
when threatened with the national retributions, provoked by a 
heedless obduracy. 

The unpropitious circumstances of his youth, was the occasion 
of bringing Mr. Clay to the notice of one, then of our city, and 
eminently distinguished in the eventful period to which I have 
just referred — that of the benignant, learned, and upright Chan- 
cellor Wythe. Admitted into the clerk's office of his court at 
the age of sixteen, he was soon engaged by the Chancellor as an 
amanuensis, and employed in transcribing Greek passages, with- 
out the least knowledge of the Greek alphabet. An humble 
occupation, as we might think, and inappropriate for the future 
orator and senator; yet, relieved by the fluent learning and 
courtesy of the profound and accomplished jurist, it served to 
supply the deficiencies of an imperfect education. In a recent 
letter sketching the Chancellor, he used this expressive lan- 
guage, " to no man was I more indebted, by his instructions, his 
advice, and his example, for the little improvement which I made, 
up to the period when, in my twenty-first year, I finally left the 
city of Richmond." An acknowledgment which proved the depth 
of Mr. Clay's gratitude, as it did the erudition and goodness 
of George Wythe. 

This, with such additions as might be derived from his admis- 
sion to the law office of Attorney General, Robert Brooke, was 



the incipient training of the great statesman, whose f:inie after- 
wards filled the earth. In such men, the whole of life is a train- 
ing for returnin!:!; exertions, each greater and more surprising 
than any which have gone before. It is their privilege to iind 
" tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in 
stones, and good in everything." Capable of gaining strength 
even from the stint and penury of adverse fortune, nought but 
the extinction of the divinity which stirs within, can stay the 
upward progress of original and capacious minds. 

The removal of IMr. Clat to Kentucky was, as we can now 
see, a fortunate, I should say a providential event. It brought 
him in connection with the infant State, and the great "West, of 
which it was a tiiir portion, when everything was young, fresh, 
and yielding. Public opinion was unformed, civil institutions 
had not received their development, the spirit of a restless people 
waited to be directed, and those usages and creeds, which come 
without observation, but when established, are of overruling 
force, were without any sure or permanent ascendency. It was 
an unoccupied theatre of mighty issues, soon to burst forth in 
giant .pjinjiu, whether controlled by a superintending and compe- 
tent guidance, or left to the direction of impetuous impulse. 
Nor was there a living man, so well as the youthful adventurer, 
fitted to shape and modify the coming results. His creative 
genius, the earnestness of his convictions, his enthusiasm, tem- 
pered with kindness, gained for him a reception at the outset, 
won by less brilliant endowments only after years of toil and 
observation. Of the statesmen of modern times, he resembled 
most the great Chatham. Original, lofty, conscious of his pow- 
ers, and uniting with energy of diction, the most forcible method 
of reasoning. Like the great commoner, " the terror of his in- 
vective subdued those who were the most willing, and the best 
able to encounter him." Thus was he qualified to build up an 
infant State, training it to manly sentiment, sound opinion, to 
proud, but honest aims, which, more " than high rais'd battlement 
or labored mound," constitute a State. 

Nor was Kentucky alone the object of his jealous care. His 
2 



10 

patriotism, indeed, was co-extensive with the utmost bounds of 
his country. But the vast trans-mountain region, of which his 
adopted State was a type, in the freshness of its youthful being, 
excited more particularly his jealous solicitude. The boundless 
extent and magnitude of its resources, and the impediments to 
its progress, he saw ; as he did, no less quickly, what was the 
system of policy to hasten and confirm its growth. It has been 
said of William, Prince of Orange, that he had never been 
young. Of our American statesman, it may be said, that he 
mastered the problems of political science, in their application to 
our country, at an age when ordinary men remit the labor of 
thought to their seniors. Forward and foremost in every move- 
ment for western interests and advancement, and often in 
advance of national opinion and enterprise, the order and course 
of events which before had prevailed, from the beginning of 
time, by him was reversed, and a bright orb, tracking the way to 
empire and renown, shone efi'ulgently in the West. 

But whatever was local and circumscribed in the aims and 
acts of Mr. Clay, was swallowed up and hid in the colossal 
dignity and weight of his national labors. The ^^lity with 
which he served his State, the energy of his exertions in behalf 
of western interests and rights, the unremitted devotion of his 
vast influence to elevate and adorn the social condition of that 
interesting region, were the genuine fruits of a love of country, 
too comprehensive and just to descend to questions of jealous 
rivalry between sections. It was the ambition of his life to 
make the Union the object of intelligent and unwavering attach- 
ment, by labouring to render the government the strong and 
beneficent agent, designed by its illustrious founders — An am- 
bition, not only consistent with State partiality and pride, and 
in harmony with rightful State authority and privilege, but 
which operated to strengthen and establish them, by those clear 
exhibitions, in which he excelled, of the legitimate and benign 
ends of State and national authority. It was in the light of 
Senator, guiding and determining national deliberations, he was, 
above all others, honored in his life ; and it is in this high char- 
acter we must briefly contemplate him, now he is no more. 



11 

There is no loftier position among men, or one wliicli demands 
higher faculties and powers, than that of leader in our national 
Congress. It is a place gained only by rare and splendid en- 
dowments, and retained alone by bringing tliem into constant 
and successful exercise. A judgment of higher authority, and 
more searching and stern than that of official connections, must 
be satisfied and propitiated — for the country, in all its plenitude, 
is witness and judge. There is no faculty, moral or intellectual, 
and no degree of training or maturity of either, which is not 
essential to an honorable and successful leadership. In the 
English Parliament, rank and powerful connections may confer 
the title, and the occupant of the perilous height may, for a 
time, trusting to adventitious aid, seem to satisfy its conditions. 
But even there, a leader is, in the main, what the name imports, 
one whom a people may trust, as well as follow. Here, it is a 
position taken without invitation, preceded by no canvass, at- 
tended by no ceremony of investiture. It is assumed in right of 
heaven's patent, by him who is able to allay the apprehensions of 
society, and to recover it from perplexing anxieties. 

Thus defined, the leader of the deliberate assembly of a free 
State, rises in public confidence, and exerts an influence, propor- 
tioned to public uneasiness and alarm. The very circumstances 
which create a necessity for a leader, shut out from the position 
incompetency and inexperience. As, when the watery elements 
are in fierce commotion, and fear and trembling invite impending 
destruction, the valiant are distinguished from the timid, so, true 
and competent statesmanship is recognized and honored, when 
ordinary and familiar expedients are seen to be inadequate 
and unsafe. 

The best deserved and highest eulogy of Mr. Clay is, that he 
was such a leader ! And that, not upon one occasion, nor for a 
short interval, but through a period nearly co-extcnsivc with the 
span of human life, and upon every occasion of interest sufficient 
to enter into the history of his times. This is not the language 
of strained and mere eulogy. Again and again did he lead in 
the deliberations of Congress, and attract to himself the admira- 



12 



tion of Iiis country, for his untiring and great ability. So to 
speak, he was premier longer than William Pitt, by a title 
better than royal favor, and not less a leader in opposition to an 
administration, than when acting with it. No grave question of 
international relations, of constitutional law, or of comprehensive 
policy, arose, during his connexion with Congress, which was not 
propounded by huuself, or upon which he did not shed the light 
of his mature and concentrated wisdom. 

Justice cannot be done to his memory, without selecting from 
among the great number of his noble efforts, some of those 
triumphs which, at the time, averted impending evils, and re- 
stored confidence and security to his perplexed and convulsed 
country. Few, now, retain a just conception of the angry 
Missouri controversy, and the fearful extent of its mischievous 
forebodings. In the nation, as in Congress, a spirit of fierce dog- 
matism and defiance prevailed, opposed to every conciliatory 
effort, and the country seemed verging to an awful convul- 
sion. At this crisis, in the moment of its darkest gloom, 
when bold men, of greater experience, held back, overcome by 
its contagion, or in despair of a remedy, Mr. Clay rose above 
the angry commotion, and carried the measure his fertile 
patriotism suggested. The gloom, which overspread the land, 
gave place to demonstrations of joy, and the incense of grate- 
ful hearts was lavished on him. 

On two other occasions of intense excitement, one the result 
of formidable preparations by a State to resist the government, 
and the other the revival of the Missouri discord, his influence 
was as publicly acknowledged, as it was beneficently employed. 
In both instances, he so triumphed over the portentous agitation, 
as that, whilst South Carolina retained her loyalty, our institu- 
tions were preserved in their integrity, and the new domain, 
acquired by our arms, which, for a time, threatened disunion, 
became a pledge of more intimate fraternal relations. 

Illustrious man! thy victories in defence of thy country's 
institutions, and thy contributions to her renown, shall shine 
as lights in our firmament, tracing the way to liberty's heights, 



and cheering the dif^couragcd patriot in his struggles to reach 
them. 

Ilis eloquence was original, marked, separate from every thing 
common and current. It was not the product of the schools, nor 
are the schools able to produce it. It was practical, direct, 
designed for an immediate end, and suited to the purpose, by an 
energy as commanding as may bo claimed for the human voice. 
The outburst of intense convictions, robed in simple and em- 
phatic language, his eloquence seemed as the visible form of a 
spirit, trusting alone for acceptance to its simj)le majesty and 
truth. And this explains his success and power as a speaker. 
Men cannot, if they would, escape the influence of a vigorous 
mind, inspired by deep and passionate emotion. "Whether he 
would enforce the conclusions of a laborious and comprehensive 
induction, or insist upou some grave State duty, or expose an 
act of official delinquency, no matter what was the occasion, the 
style of his oratory was the reflex of a powerful intellect, proud 
in the purity of its aims, and intensely concerned for the cause 
of right and truth. lie was not without taste for rhetorical 
embellishments ; and when the argument might be thereby ad- 
vanced, could and did abound in richness of allusion, amplifica- 
tion, and illustration. The power of sarcasm and invective, 
belonged to a nature as resolute and independent as his, and fell, 
when exerted, with terrific force upon the unhappy victim. Yet, 
the feature which gave to his eloquence its individuality, was its 
earnestness ; that element of mysterious power, called nciion^ 
by the father of orators. 

The Athenian orator gave to his eloquence a harder polish. 
He had to deal with rhetoricians, and with a people whose delight 
was in the theatre, and who required in eloquence, as in the 
other arts, the severest perfection. But taking into the account 
the difference in the auditory, there is no oration of Demos- 
thenes, for which a parallel might not be found in the speeches 
of Mr. Clay. 

The prominent features of his character belonged not more to 
his identity, than to the fashion of his public life. As the world 



14 

knew him, he was. Those manifestations of character, which 
attracted applause, were no farther the oifspring of political 
station, than as it furnished, the occasion for their display. His 
nature was too intense, his principles too much a part of his 
being, his self-respect too stern a monitor, his courage, too 
near " an appetite for danger," to permit him to yield to other 
counsel than his sense of right. " I would rather be right than 
President," expressed in part only his invincible repugnance to 
every form of base and unworthy compliance. But stern as he 
was on points of duty, yet was he most attractive for his sira- 
jilicity, the charms of his conversation, and his flowing and 
obliging humanity — 

" 111 public life severe, 
To virtue still inexorably firm. 
But when, beneatli his low, illustrious roof, 
Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow, 
IS'ot friendship softer was, nor love more kind." 

He did not escape the fortune which attends unflinching 
energies, uninterruptedly devoted to great objects. Never was 
it borne with more unsubdued confidence in the certainty of 
ultimate vindication. Ha had a giant's strength, and would, 
sometimes, use it as a giant. If his motives were not always 
understood, and his acts sometimes unsparingly criticised — if 
distrust and suspicion, breaking out at intervals in bitterness 
and scoffs, did not forbear to assail his life, he bore it, as one 
strong in his uprightness, disdaining to seek protection in un- 
worthy compliances. Just ten years ago, when he retired from 
the Senate, he said of himself — " I have wished the good opinion 
of the world ; but I defy the most malignant of my enemies to 
show, that I have attempted to gain it by any low or grovelling 
arts, by any mean or unworthy sacrifices, by a violation of any 
of the obligations of honor, or by a breach of any duties which 
I owed to my country." 

The universal voice has set its seal to the undeviating and 
lofty propriety of the lamented dead. That justice to his mem- 
ory, which will be paid by the sure judgment of posterity, we 



15 



hear already, in the irrepressible solieitudc to do him rever- 
ence. 

The memory of Mr. Clay, for itself, needed no eulogy. He 
was one of the few, even of great men, who stand so prominently 
out on the records of their time, that his fame must endure until 
they perish. His recorded and enduring acts are his best and 
only faithful memorial. But in grateful remembrance of his 
sacrifices and toils, and that our love of country may be quick- 
ened and purified, we do and will delight to dwell upon him. 
We feel that it is cause for grateful acknowledgment, that we 
have seen, and heard, and known him. As we meditate upon 
his illustrious life, our faith in the reality of public virtue, and 
in the certainty of Christian truth, grows stronger. Of the one, 
his life was a glorious example, and of the other, his death an 
impressive and sure witness. The statesman of honors and tri- 
umphs recoiled not at the humility of the Cross, but meekly 
sought his best and truest solace in Christian faith. The dark- 
ness, which envelops our nature, was dispelled by a light from 
beyond the grave, and the venerable statesman, as he descended 
to his rest, was sustained by visions of a blissful immortality. 

The voice of the dead, eve/ more potent than the voice of the 
living, is even now crying unto us, " to fulfill our duties, accord- 
ing to our consciences, faithfully and to the last." His marble 
statue, from classic land, thanks to the patriotic enthusiasm of 
our ladies, is designed as an ornament for our city. May it 
enjoy that higher distinction, of cherishing his civil and religious 
virtues. 



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